How do you honor your body? Do you treat it like the temple that it is? Do you appreciate its curves, its power, its softness, its flexibility or its vulnerabilty? Do you compare it and contrast it against other bodies? Do you cherish its uniqueness and how it serves you?

Bodies come in all shapes and sizes and yet we hold to a standard set by society that only a small percentage can fit within. What does that mean to the rest of the bodies? That they fall short, have less value, should not be loved, or appreciated? Hardly!

Each body is a temple! Your body longs to share its gifts with you. The better your relationship with your body, the better the conversation! Every day messages are shared by your body ... are you listening? It will tell you what it needs. It will celebrate with you. It will challenge you. It will offer encouragement. It will state when it needs rest, fuel, movement, or a change. The better you develop your listening skills with your body, the better you will be able to honor it for all it offers you.

In our busy lives we often put our bodies last. Work, commitments, children, partners, and more comes first. Yet, it is undeniable that the better we tend to our own needs the better we can serve others. An important fact not meant to be ignored.

Your body is a sacred gift to be honored and valued in this lifetime. The more you take it for granted, the more likely you will miss important messages. The more you abuse it, the more likely it will suffer. And the more you understand it, accept it, adore it, the more likely you will find it helps you feel powerful, shine brightly, serve others better and live healthier.

Oh, the conversation about loving our bodies has been shared around the world. But the biggest piece of this whole conversation is how to stop the madness that serves as the bookends around this discussion. This madness is created by industries that want you to feel you will never be good enough, thin enough, curvy enough, busty enough, blonde enough, young enough...because you won't by their standards! None of us will. It is time to remove these voices and images from our conversation and begin honoring our body temple. They are only there to make their money and to suck you into the black hole of dissatisfaction, dishonor and comparison of your body. Instead, let's discuss how we can share a conversation about how we can celebrate our bodies, see the beauty of each other, how to empower with our words, images and thoughts, how we can see the beauty in ALL bodies. Regardless of our shape, our size, our measurement, our number on the label or the scale...regardless of our cup size, our hair color, the shape of our eyes, the length of our nails....regardless of all this and more let's have the conversation that will exclude no one from recognizing that they are beautiful in every way that they are!

To take part in this conversation join Robin Rice and I as we challenge the standards, initiate these types of discussions, celebrate all bodies and honor the body temple at the Awesome Woman Hub in a year of Celebrating Women & The Body Beautiful.